Project Trig - After 18 Months Away, Is Back In Town! by Mini 360

11 minute(s) of a 461 minute read

More work done tonight.  Got to just keep on truckin with this or it'll never get done!  First up some bolts (ladies and gent, please contain your excitement...) for the front subframe.  The ones I had on the mounts to frame were rusty and too short to pass an MOT so a quick trip to Grampian Fasteners on my lunch break and they were bought for just over a pound!  Nyloc nuts for piece of mind.



Drilled couple of holes in the bulkhead....with yet more blue tape!



and that was then filled!



Then I finally got round to drilling out the hole for the passenger side repeater. NEver thought to check for this before paint as you would think they would be there already....WRONG! So with the engine and rad out had space. Made a template from the passenger side in paper then mirrored this onto masking tape to act as a guide. Worked a treat!



Drilled a pilot hole, made it larger and then ran out of big enough drill bits! So I set about it with a circular course file and made a huge amount of noise in the process.



Got it roughly right then took a stone bit on the Dremel to tidy it up nice and smooth. Then finished it off with hammerite to prevent rust setting in!



Then, seeing as my required part didnt show up again I thought I would tackle some shiny. So cleaned up the gauges for the dash. They were pretty grotty but nothing a bit of polish couldnt sort. We have oil pressure, voltmeter and clock :)



Then fitted it all to the dash! Had to make some small wooden spacers on the rear in order to fit them correctly with the brackets. Easy enough with a hole boring bit on the drill though!



Also fitted the radio cage for the radio which is almost fully wired up ready to fit.



The main cluster is going to need some adjusting and larger screws than standard but ran out of time and light to do that tonight. Still, its going to look awesome!



Shame its still sitting like this but hey ho, plenty other stuff to be getting on with!



More progress this weekend as Im off to see Fast 6 tomorrow night

5-18-2013

Progress! Parts finally arrived yesterday and this morning! First up, gearbox crankshaft seal. Genuine of course.



And door shims incase the doors need finer adjusting and diff shims! 10thou and 6though. Exactly what I needed, which is handy!



So with the shims acquired I shimmed up the diff, reassembled it and back on the box. Then befo fitting, tested it with the linkage. Click, click, click, click, lift and click! 1st thought to 4th and reverse. Result!



Bought a special tool for the roll pins on the linkage. £3 and does its job perfectly! Makes the pins an ease to add or remove without damage!



Replaced the oil pickup seal on the gearbox face (goes between box and block) needed changed!!!



And then mated the box to the engine and the flywheel housing back in after fitting a new genuine main oil seal around the crank hole.



Then was out the whole afternoon in town but did my mum was busy making up a cover for the gear stick gaitor. In door card matching suede. Looks great!



So tomorrow it's flywheel etc back on and then install the engine again!

5-19-2013

Not long in from the garage.  Been out since about 9.30am!  So 13hrs aint too shabby! This popped up on my phone just to remind me that this is a week away..... 

First up, get the flywheel etc all on.  Housing went on no bother s we marked up the bolts and the housing to match everything up.  Top tip, keep everything loose until you have all bolts located them tighten.  We tightened up a couple first and then found the others wouldnt go in.  Save yourself the hassle! Then got the flywheel and clutch assembly on and correctly torqued up as per Haynes recommendation. Then it was on with the 'wok' flywheel cover and engine was hoisted into place.  With the brake servo still being in to prevent having to rebleed the brakes, we made life difficult for ourselves but loosened off the servo and tied it with some rope to the rafters of the garage.  Worked a treat! With the huge help from my parents, we eventually got the engine located in the subframe.  Took longer than anticipated, the air was blue and the floor was red with blood from my burst knuckles but it was in!  Then we set about getting the ancillaries all in.  So all thats left to do is get the rad, throttle/choke cables, heater cable and coil wiring and HT leads on and its broom broom time!  Should get all that done tomorrow night hopefully! So that was today. Hands are in tatters but worth it for this amount of preogress. Note the masking tape plaster quick fix Dedication and commitment?  You bet! :thumb:

5-21-2013

Wee update.  Finished everything off yesterday to get the engine going but didn't start due to flat battery.  Home today from work to a charged battery and still no starting!  Checked for fuel......

So with fuel bought () and poured in we tried again. Still no start but strong spark and turnover. Looked at the choke cable and realised it was jamming the choke fully closed as the cable housing was up against the retaining bolt. So with that adjusted, it fired up first time no bother at all! Result! Again, its running terribly but the exhaust is properly sealed this time which is good and its popping and banging on overrun lovely

Very happy with the work we did on the engine and box. Never tackled anything like it before (any of us!) and it hasn't got any leaks, be that oil or water. Drove it out to test the gears and we have 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and reverse. Ace! Shame its not got the better final drive of the 1275 box but beggars cant be choosers! Ultimately I want to rebuild the now spare box but that can wait for now.

So, first thing tomorrow, out to fine tune and then get going on other bits and pieces.  Not looking for perfection from the timing as I will get Jim King to do that at MOT once its failed its emissions test ..... :)

5-22-2013

Badly wet and windy, on and off, throughout the day so car stayed inside.  Not ideal but made the most of it.



Spent the first few hours playing with the carb/dizzy etc etc. It was backfiring through the carb, not revving and cutting out. Thankfully thats now all stopped but its not perfect. It is good enough to drive it to the MOT which is all I need though!

Excuse the dust and dirt in the battery box! Needs a clean but got the three drainage grommets in after a quick stop at Autoparts. Had to buy three multi packs to get the three I needed.......



Then got the front window rubber on (not window, thats tomorrows job!) As you can see it wasn't wanting to sit correctly and seemed far too long.



However, with a bit of stretching and pulling it sat nice and tight in the frame. Hopefully the windows easy enough to get in now!



With the front electrics done, I got the bonnet catch back in. Left loose for now to allow adjustment for bonnet fitting but its working.



Grommeted up the choke and heater cables. Two of the hardest grommets Ive ever come across. Beyond tight!



And swapped out the dull black plastic knob on the dash for a chrome one. Balances it out much better!



I did try and fit the radio up loosely so I could disconnect it again for dash fitting. Need a couple of correct shaped connectors to get it done. Hopefully get lots more done tomorrow like dash, radio, doors etc.